Archives: Festival Events

Difficulty: Moderate. Moderate. Some walking on slopes/inclines at elevation. Bathroom will be available at different times. Drive time to location about 50 minutes on paved roads.

Enjoy birding where Tucson residents escape the summer heat in the high elevation areas of Mt. Lemmon and the small mountain hamlet of Summerhaven. Birding hotspots will include Incinerator Ridge Road, Bear Wallow, and Mt. Bigelow Road. We’ll look for mixed warbler flocks which may include Red-faced, Orange-crowned, Virginia’s, Townsend’s, Hermit, Wilson’s, and Grace’s Warblers. Birding in the conifer forests of Mt. Lemmon can also produce species like Hairy Woodpecker, Steller’s Jay, Mountain Chickadee, and Western Flycatcher. Limited to 9 participants.

Grace’s Warbler, Shawn Cooper

Difficulty: Moderate. Mostly walking on paved road or dirt trails, but will involve some incline at elevation and possibly some rocky/rooted trails. Bathroom on-site.

Rose Canyon Lake in the Catalina Mountains is the top destination for birding on Mt. Lemmon. The oak and pine habitats contain many Madrean species normally found only south of the border.  This short paved road is interspersed with camp sites and picnic grounds which affords easy access for several targets for birders coming to the Sky Islands including Western Flycatcher, Greater Pewee, Hutton’s Vireo, Hepatic Tanager, and several warblers including Red-faced, Olive, Hermit, Virginia’s, Black-throated, and Grace’s. Limited to 9 participants.

Olive Warbler, Shawn Cooper

Difficulty: Moderate. Mostly flat walking on dirt trails that may be a bit sandy or muddy depending on conditions. Bathroom close-by at Ron Morriss Park. Drive time to location approximately one hour.
We’ll take a leisurely stroll through the riparian forest along the Santa Cruz River following the historic De Anza Trail. We’ll be looking for Green Kingfishers, Thick Billed, Tropical, Cassin’s and Western Kingbirds, Zone-tailed and Gray Hawks, lots of tanagers and warblers. We will spend most of the day in the shade of the cottonwoods as we explore lots of different areas going south along the river. There might even be a chance of seeing Rose-throated Becards, though their numbers have been declining along the river. Limited to 9 participants.

Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Martin Molina

Difficulty: Moderate. May involve some walking mild slopes and dirt/gravel trails with some incline. Bathrooms along route. Drive to location about 60 minutes.

Join award-winning photographer Paul Bannick to explore Madera Canyon in search of woodpeckers. Author of “Woodpecker: A Year in the Life of North American Woodpeckers”, Paul will share the natural history of the woodpeckers we see and we’ll try to get some good photos too. We’ll especially look for Gila, Ladder-backed, Arizona, and Acorn Woodpeckers along with Northern Flicker. Limited to 9 participants.

Acorn Woodpecker, Dan Weisz

Difficulty: Hard. Will involve hiking/walking about three miles roundtrip with some mild slopes/wash crossings, but overall mostly flat ground and good surfaces. Bring 2 liters of water. Bathroom on-site.

Join Tony Figueroa, Director of the Invasive Plant Program, to hear how Tucson Bird Alliance is constantly working to restore and preserve these places for future generations of people and birds to enjoy. The Sonoran Desert is amazingly dense with vegetation compared to other deserts, but this sensitive habitat is at risk due to invasive species such as buffelgrass. We’ll discuss the ecology of the area and find some great birds, too, as we explore the desert and riparian areas around Colossal Cave. Possible bird sightings include Gray Hawk, Purple Martin, White-breasted Nuthatch, Canyon Towhee, and Varied Bunting. Limited to 9 participants.

Gray HAwk, Axel Elfner

Difficulty: Moderate. Some walking on mild slopes on dirt trails or gravel roads. Dirt trails may be muddy. Bathroom at Empire Ranch. Drive time to location approximately one hour plus driving on gravel/dirt roads.

Las Cienegas is a 45,000-acre national conservation area with high desert grasslands, riparian strips and perennial streams, marshes, and juniper-oak woodlands. Here we can find grassland breeders such as Cassin’s, Botteri’s and Grasshopper Sparrows, Chihuahuan Meadowlark, and Loggerhead Shrike, as well as riparian-associated species including Gray and Zone-tailed Hawks, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Blue Grosbeak, Yellow Warbler, and Summer Tanager. Las Cienegas is great for mammals, too — we’ll visit a colony of Black-tailed Prairie Dogs (road condition permitting) and keep an eye out for Pronghorn Antelope. Join Joshua Covill of Hillstar Nature to explore this beautiful habitat. Limited to 9 participants.

Chihuahuan Meadowlark, Alan Schmierer

Difficulty: Moderate. Some steeper slopes with portions that may have rocky/rooted trails. Most walking is on groomed gravel road in shorter spurts. Drive time to location approximately one hour with some gravel roads. Bathroom available at mouth of canyon.

While Madera Canyon has long been the most visited spot in the Santa Rita Mountains, this adjacent canyon to the south is deserving of more birders’ attention. Join Wesley Homoya of Natural Selections Tours on a half-day exploration of Montosa Canyon, which supports some hackberry thornscrub habitat as well as a nice drainage with scattered oaks and mesquites. Some more common species we can expect to encounter include Bell’s Vireo, Rufous-crowned Sparrow, Canyon Wren, and Ladder-backed Woodpecker. We’ll also target rare species which have nested in the canyon in past years, including Five-striped Sparrow and keep our eyes out for dazzling Varied Buntings on territory. Limited to 9 participants.

Varied Bunting, Martin Molina

Difficulty: Easy. Most of the time will be spent in photography blind. Drive time to final location just over 90 minutes.

Join Sabrewing Nature Photographer Jamie Cunningham to experience the photography blind at Battiste’s Bird Garden! This exciting new opportunity gives photographers the chance to photograph up to 8 species of hummingbirds and a variety of songbirds, all from the comfort of a newly designed photo blind. Limited to 6 participants.

Rivoli’s Hummingbird, Roger van Gelder

Difficulty: Hard. Will include walking through desert with uneven surfaces for about 2-3 mile roundtrip. No bathroom on-site but we’ll stop beforehand at a gas station. Bring 2 liters of water. Drive time to location is about 75 minutes.

This area just southwest of Tucson has some of the highest biological diversity in the state but is little visited by birders. Amidst the amazing rolling landscape of Sonoran Desert and grassland we’ll hope to find numerous species characteristic of this rich desert habitat including Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, Gilded Flicker, Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, Black-throated and Rufous-winged Sparrow, Pyrrhuloxia, and Varied Bunting. Crested Caracara are known to nest in this area as well. Limited to 9 participants.

Cactus Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, Stephen Vaughan

Difficulty: Moderate. About two miles walking on good gravel/dirt surfaces, although it may be muddy depending on monsoon conditions. Prepare for possibility of chiggers. Bathroom on-site. Drive time to location approximately 90 minutes.

The San Pedro River is one of the single most important biological features in the arid Southwest and serves as a migratory corridor for an estimated 4 million migrating birds each year. Riparian specialties like Common Ground-Dove, Gray Hawk, and Blue Grosbeak are expected along with a good mixture of flycatchers like Western Wood Pewee, Cassin’s Kingbird, Willow Flycatcher, and plenty of Vermilion Flycatchers. Limited to 9 participants.

Blue Grosbeak, Matthew Studebaker